Yad Va'Shem
Hazy Flint (our Guide) and Rich
Head phones at Yad Va'Shem
Garden of the Righteous
Entrance to Yad Va'Shem
Our view when we exited Yad Va'Shem
Ghetto of the children
Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery
Mahane Yauda Market as Shabbat is to start
The annoucement that the shops most close for Shabbat
He walked the entire market
Shabbat at the Western Wall
deep in prayer
Shabbat dinner at the Colony in JerusalemOctober 28, 2011 Friday – Shabbat in Jerusalem
The title of our itinerary for today is MEMORY & SACRIFICE – SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
TOWARD SHABBAT.
We began our day with a visit to Yad Va’Shem – the Holocaust Memorial Museum,
located atop Har HaZikaron, literally the “hill of Memory”. It was established in 1953, as the world center for documentation, research and commemoration of the Holocaust. Lenny and I were here twice before – the first time was 23 years ago and the last time was 17 years ago. The Children’s Memorial was just opened a short time.
Despite being here twice, we were overwhelmed with emotion as we toured the museum for over four hours with our wonderful guide, Hazy Flint. Rich knew her through his
daughter Lisa and grandchildren and from a mission he led two years ago. Hazy exposed us to the Garden of Righteous Gentiles (including Oscar Schindler),Ghetto life, deportations, Einsattzgrupen (Nazi mobile killing units),concentration camps and the crematoriums and much more. She expertly drew out our inner feelings as she made each picture of each person come to life. Not once did anyone complain about standing on our feet for that whole time. I was overtaken with emotion when we stopped to see some original notes left by Jews from Lodz, Poland, the city near where my maternal grandparents were born. We also saw such information about the ship, Exodus, which brought many Jews to then what was known as Palestine. Some of Lenny’s Blender side of the family came here on this ship. It was very moving and disturbing at the same time.
We also visited briefly the gallery which is filled with art from survivors but
due to time constraints, we were really unable to view it – just take a peak.
The Children’s Memorial was as moving as ever – so simple with its five candles
shooting out 1.5 million lights in remembrance of all the children who perished in the Holocaust. As crowds walk silently through this dark exhibit with it lights above, the names of each child are read one by one with their age at the time of their death. When we came out into the outside, it took a few minutes for our group to compose themselves. Lenny and I walked together hand in hand quietly and looked out over Jerusalem for a few minutes before joining our group for our walk up to the Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery. Here too, we could only take a short peak at all the gravesites and memorials spread out in the hills over Jerusalem.
A good break from the solemn feelings of the visit to Yad Va’Shem was a lunch
stop at an Israeli restaurant and as usual we ate too much, tempted by the huge
spread placed in front of us. A quick stop at Mahane Yehuda Market where we saw people rushing about buying last minute fruits, vegetables and flowers to prepare for Shabbat and we saw a “Black Hat” blowing a trumpet to herald in the start of Shabbat and to alert people to head home and businesses to close. The market is an exotic blur of colors, scents and sounds. The market has been around for over a century and gives you a great peak into Israeli culture. The market is between Jaffa Rd. and Agrippas Street.
A trip to the wall to welcome in Shabbat ended our tour for the day. The remains
of the external retaining wall of the Second Temple, destroyed in 70 CE, this site is considered the most sacred in Judaism and is the most visited site in Jerusalem.
The site draws visitors of all faiths. Hundreds and hundreds of people were there.
Each member of our group had prepared special prayers on small pieces of paper
to place in the cracks in the wall. We were all moved by the experience of
being there at the start of Shabbat. Lenny and I placed notes and prayers there
for our cousin Joyce Oppen and friends; Ruth Siegal and her granddaughter,
Steve Jablo and Eliot Charnas. We were very emotional about it.
Crazy Rich danced and sang with the Israeli Scouts. We returned to our hotel for a few minutes of R&R. It was really 2 hours but Rich did not want us to let others know he let up his normally full day with a 2 hours break. We told him we would keep his secret.
Dinner tonight is at the Colony restaurant. It was a cut above. It had a very nice ambiance and a large wide rectangular table that easily accommodated our group. We honored David, our bus driver at dinner by putting him in the center of our group picture.
ON TO MASSADA AND THE DEAD SEA TOMORROW!!!
The title of our itinerary for today is MEMORY & SACRIFICE – SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
TOWARD SHABBAT.
We began our day with a visit to Yad Va’Shem – the Holocaust Memorial Museum,
located atop Har HaZikaron, literally the “hill of Memory”. It was established in 1953, as the world center for documentation, research and commemoration of the Holocaust. Lenny and I were here twice before – the first time was 23 years ago and the last time was 17 years ago. The Children’s Memorial was just opened a short time.
Despite being here twice, we were overwhelmed with emotion as we toured the museum for over four hours with our wonderful guide, Hazy Flint. Rich knew her through his
daughter Lisa and grandchildren and from a mission he led two years ago. Hazy exposed us to the Garden of Righteous Gentiles (including Oscar Schindler),Ghetto life, deportations, Einsattzgrupen (Nazi mobile killing units),concentration camps and the crematoriums and much more. She expertly drew out our inner feelings as she made each picture of each person come to life. Not once did anyone complain about standing on our feet for that whole time. I was overtaken with emotion when we stopped to see some original notes left by Jews from Lodz, Poland, the city near where my maternal grandparents were born. We also saw such information about the ship, Exodus, which brought many Jews to then what was known as Palestine. Some of Lenny’s Blender side of the family came here on this ship. It was very moving and disturbing at the same time.
We also visited briefly the gallery which is filled with art from survivors but
due to time constraints, we were really unable to view it – just take a peak.
The Children’s Memorial was as moving as ever – so simple with its five candles
shooting out 1.5 million lights in remembrance of all the children who perished in the Holocaust. As crowds walk silently through this dark exhibit with it lights above, the names of each child are read one by one with their age at the time of their death. When we came out into the outside, it took a few minutes for our group to compose themselves. Lenny and I walked together hand in hand quietly and looked out over Jerusalem for a few minutes before joining our group for our walk up to the Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery. Here too, we could only take a short peak at all the gravesites and memorials spread out in the hills over Jerusalem.
A good break from the solemn feelings of the visit to Yad Va’Shem was a lunch
stop at an Israeli restaurant and as usual we ate too much, tempted by the huge
spread placed in front of us. A quick stop at Mahane Yehuda Market where we saw people rushing about buying last minute fruits, vegetables and flowers to prepare for Shabbat and we saw a “Black Hat” blowing a trumpet to herald in the start of Shabbat and to alert people to head home and businesses to close. The market is an exotic blur of colors, scents and sounds. The market has been around for over a century and gives you a great peak into Israeli culture. The market is between Jaffa Rd. and Agrippas Street.
A trip to the wall to welcome in Shabbat ended our tour for the day. The remains
of the external retaining wall of the Second Temple, destroyed in 70 CE, this site is considered the most sacred in Judaism and is the most visited site in Jerusalem.
The site draws visitors of all faiths. Hundreds and hundreds of people were there.
Each member of our group had prepared special prayers on small pieces of paper
to place in the cracks in the wall. We were all moved by the experience of
being there at the start of Shabbat. Lenny and I placed notes and prayers there
for our cousin Joyce Oppen and friends; Ruth Siegal and her granddaughter,
Steve Jablo and Eliot Charnas. We were very emotional about it.
Crazy Rich danced and sang with the Israeli Scouts. We returned to our hotel for a few minutes of R&R. It was really 2 hours but Rich did not want us to let others know he let up his normally full day with a 2 hours break. We told him we would keep his secret.
Dinner tonight is at the Colony restaurant. It was a cut above. It had a very nice ambiance and a large wide rectangular table that easily accommodated our group. We honored David, our bus driver at dinner by putting him in the center of our group picture.
ON TO MASSADA AND THE DEAD SEA TOMORROW!!!
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